The News That SHOULD Have Been Reported on Monday
by user Tqcincinnatus Dateline - 16 April, 2007 Blacksburg, VA A greater tragedy was averted today at Virginia Tech, where an early morning shooting rampage left four students dead and another two in the hospital, thanks to the quick thinking and brave action of a student hero. This morning, the school's on-campus police received an emergency 911 call at around 9:45 AM, reporting that several gunshots had been heard in Norris Hall, devoted primarily to engineering classes. Responding quickly, police arrived at the hall to find that one student, with a legal concealed weapon, had prevented another from massacring students attending classes in the building. According to police reports a single perpetrator, tentatively identified at this time as Cho Seung-hui, a 23-year old South Korean national who was a permanent resident of the United States who lived in Centreville, carried what is believed to have been two 9mm pistols with him into the building. After chaining the doors shut, Cho entered a classroom where a German class was in session, pulled out his guns, and began to shoot at them methodically, killing two and wounding another two. Cho, who police believe intended to murder the entire class execution-style, was thwarted in his efforts by the actions of a student attending a class in the room next to where Cho was carrying out his attacks. While pausing to reload his first pistol, according to witness Abigail Zabrinisky, another student ran into the room behind Cho, aimed a pistol at Cho, and ordered him to drop his weapon. Cho attempted to turn on the student and shoot at him, but was shot dead by the student with a single bullet through the heart. Cho is also suspected in the shooting of two students in an on-campus residence hall around two hours earlier, but confirmation of this awaits the results of police ballistics testing. The other student is identified as 24-year old sophomore Shane Totten, a chemical engineering major. Totten, who was attending a physics class in Norris, enrolled at Virginia Tech after serving two terms in Iraq before returning home to Virginia to marry his fiancé and further his education. He is reported to have received several commendations for bravery due to service in and around Fallujah, and was honourably discharged from active duty with the rank of Staff Sergeant. Totten, was carrying a legally concealed .45 Colt semiautomatic pistol on campus, something allowed under the Virginia Campus and Students Protection Act, narrowly passed last year as House Bill 1572 by the Virginia Assembly, and signed into law by then-Governour Mark Warner. The bill allows citizens with concealed-carry permits to carry weapons on campus, overriding prohibitions made by individual schools. "I heard the shots in the room next door, and I didn't know what was going on. I knew one thing, though, I had to do something", Totten told reporters. Totten pulled his pistol from his backpack, and ran next door, not knowing what he was going to find. "I was horrified. There was this guy just standing there and reloading, not saying anything. It was like he was zoned out or something. There was blood everywhere, and four people were just laying on the floor, and everyone else were hiding behind desks and crying. I told the guy to stand down, and he tried to turn and pull on me. Training took over, and I shot him," stated Totten. Campus police arrived moments later, and were able to enter the building after breaking down the chained doors. They found Totten attempting to treat the wounds of one of the students, who had been shot in the stomach. Police initially detained Totten, but released him almost immediately after witnesses informed them of Totten's heroic intervention. A search of Cho's possessions found several dozen rounds of ammunition in his backpack. Police do not as yet have a motive for this attempted rampage, but a search of Cho's dorm room is currently underway. Police spokeman Officer Mark Blalock credited Totten with saving possibly dozens of lives. Totten's actions mirror those of other recent events in which an armed rampage has been prevented or halted by citizens carrying firearms. In 1997, an assistant principle in Pearl, Mississippi used a handgun he had retreived from his pickup truck to halt and detain a perpetrator who had killed three in a public high school. A man who had killed three on the campus of Appalachian Law School, in Grundy, Virginia, was stopped by two students who had ran to their cars and gotten their pistols. "We can't have an armed guard in front of every classroom every day of the year," Officer Blalock said after the shootings. "The police can't be everywhere, and if Mr. Totten had not had his pistol with him today, we may have seen a much more terrible tragedy than we did. We are thankful that Mr. Totten was where he was at and did what he did, and we're glad that he could. It is unconscionable to disarm people who want to defend themselves." __NOEDITSECTION__ Category: Opinions Category: Opinions by User Tqcincinnatus Category: April 18, 2007 Category: Virginia Tech Opinions From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki.